Paint Schoodic

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Wednesday, February 12, 2014

What is the lesson here?

Underpainting of lime tailings in Rockport. I was a little confused about what I intended to do with those rocks at the bottom; that's the problem with having your work so rudely interrupted.

Every day I get up wondering how much I can work. It’s been
a stop-and-start recovery, and I haven’t enjoyed my enforced inertia.

So perhaps that’s lesson #1: revel in the opportunity to
work, because you don’t know when it will be taken away from you again.

It's an amazing feeling to not be able to open a can of paint, lift anything much heavier than your brush, or adjust your easel. I couldn't be painting at all if Sandy weren't doing all the heavy lifting.

I have a show opening on March 24 at Roberts Wesleyan
College, and these large works are what I want to show. Back in December the
gallery director gave me a chance to opt out and I didn’t take it; I was
certain I could meet my commitment. At the time, it seemed like this was a
cut-and-recover cancer.

So I’m doing something I’ve never done before: letting my
studio assistant (the wonderful Sandy Quang) do some of my gridding. After all,
why train a wonderful painter if you don’t let her paint? I realize this is
historically acceptable, and you will never see her brushstrokes, but it’s
still taken me a lot to let someone else touch my canvases.

Sandy gridding. The kid sure can paint. I take credit for it, of course, but I have to admit Pratt probably had some part to play.

So that’s lesson #2 of this round of cancer: stop being such
a control freak.

A visitor to my studio saw the red peeking out from the snow
in an underpainting and said, “I kind of like that. It looks like your recent
past.” That has gotten me thinking that I won’t polish these paintings to
death.

So that’s lesson #3: I don’t need to overwork everything in
life.

And me, in a rolling office chair, actually painting. Maybe next week I can work standing for a little bit at a time.

Lastly, I’m kind of amazed at how rough things are around
the edges right now. Mostly these are minor things like shoveling the walk or sweeping
the floors. (I can’t bend or lift at all.) I’ve spent so many years acknowledging
that my husband is unique because he does so much housework and makes it
possible for me to travel that I’ve come to see myself as superfluous to my own
life.

And that’s lesson #4: Son-of-a-gun! I am actually useful.

Let me know if you’re interested in painting with me in Maine in 2014 or
Rochester at any time. Click here for
more information on my Maine workshops!